Readiness of health facilities in providing basic antenatal care laboratory test services and client satisfaction in Ethiopia

Background: To enable early identification of pregnancy-related health complications and other potential problems that affect the outcomes of pregnancy, pregnant women need to receive the basic laboratory test services during antenatal care. The provision of antenatal care laboratory test services is influenced by the availability and capacity of support systems.Methods: A health facility based cross-sectional study design was employed. Results: One hundred and ninety-nine facilities and 960 pregnant women were involved. Sixty-seven-point one percent of facilities had the minimum required infrastructure; the minimum required laboratory documents were present in 67.2% of facilities; the minimum laboratory equipment needed was present in 49.6% of facilities; and 76% of facilities had trained laboratory personnel who could provide basic antenatal care laboratory test services. The average stockout rate on the date of the visit was 29.6%; stockouts during the past thirty days was 32%; and the mean number of days that the available stocks last was for 93 days. The average availability of basic antenatal care laboratory test services in health facilities was 84% with infrastructure (p=0.018) and equipment (p=0.000) being the significant predictors of service availability. The satisfaction rate for overall laboratory test services provided in the health facilities was 83.2%. Conclusions: Readiness of health facilities to deliver basic antenatal care laboratory test services in terms of infrastructure, documents, equipment, reagents, and human resource was low but the client satisfaction rate was within an acceptable range. The gaps in infrastructure, documents, medical equipment, reagents, and human resource of facilities need to be addressed to ensure better laboratory test services.